Ranting

Nothing interesting yesterday. Today Joelle asked me—AGAIN—when we'd finish the book for adult class. A new student wants to join when we start a new book. I told her maybe a couple of weeks but that I wasn't sure. After all, we usually only do a page or sometimes two in one class. They'd rather talk than study a book, and isn't keeping them happy what I'm supposed to be doing? Then Joelle told me that the format for the class would be changing—I would teach it 4 mornings a week, and Miro would teach once a week (not Annie). I protested that I need some mornings off, and that the two hours between adult and elementary classes can be boring. She immediately went to tell Mr. Kim that I wasn't cooperating, while I thought about other possible solutions. When she came back she said that since the students have been absent a lot that we'd change the class to only 3 days a week—me twice and Miro once. OK, that's fine, or I suggested that if we changed the class time to an hour later that it would leave me less waiting-around time between classes (and more sleeping time in the morning!) so I could do 4 mornings per week. She insisted that the 2/1 will be good. No mention of when it's starting, though. Will they charge the same amount for fewer days? I think regardless of if the price changes or stays the same, the students will be unhappy with the change.

Grace is STILL not hearing the difference between the words "upset" and "absent!!" I worked with her on the word stress, then just individually on the sound of the letters. In English, "b" and "p" sound very different!! As does "a" and "u!!" Why are you making them sound the same, crazy lady?? They liked the lesson on sentence stress.

The rest of the day was spent in a bad mood, partially from Joelle and partially from hormones and cramps. I shouldn't let my mood affect my interaction with the kids, but sometimes they deserve to be yelled at.

The whole "Sandra as head foreign teacher" is starting to get to me. I know she has more experience than me and doesn't flaunt her role, but recently lots of things have been bothering me about it. Shall I list them all? OK, she's always the one who gets to interview the new Korean teachers, like our opinions don't matter. She gets to pick the new foreign teachers. The leading the meetings part I don't care about. She teaches the "returning" classes (full of genius kids who have lived overseas) that usually have 2-6 students. She gets paid more than us, yet has a shorter schedule. Often the Korean teachers (especially Joelle) will ask her questions and I hear her give an answer that's only half-right. Often I bite my tongue to keep from pointing out the problem. It's not like I've eavesdropping or anything—the teachers' room is extremely small and everyone hears everything that's said there. Sandra is stronger in some areas of teaching, but I'm definitely stronger in writing and grammar rules. Yet those are often the kinds of questions that Joelle asks Sandra! Yet another thing is that all the new teachers shadow Sandra and no one else. It's like Mr. Kim is saying that Sandra is the best teacher and that new teachers can't learn anything from anyone else. When I started I observed two different teachers, and learned something from both teaching styles. It's SO annoying that my going on 2 years of experience don't count for anything with Mr. Kim!!